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The British government is examining the reductions in its BBC global service subsidy in the expenditure examination, the broadcaster preparing for changes in its budget following recently announced foreign aid reductions.
BBC Director General Tim Davie said the company was preparing to get involved with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the benefits of the decision.
“In the past few days, we were asked to prepare a new commitment with the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] On the impact of the reduction of development spending abroad, “he wrote international development, culture and foreign affairs in parliament chairs.
He added: “We will be happy to keep you informed if this results in financial implications on the global service in 2026-27 and beyond.”
Most of the global service grant comes from the formal aid budget, while a small proportion comes from other financing pots within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Government officials have said that the BBC World Service Gushing Subsidy are among those under study, but that no final decision had been made.
Sir Keir Starmer announced its intention to reduce assistance in the United Kingdom last month in order to finance an increase in defense expenses of 2027. Officials are now looking for around 6 billion pounds Sterling in the official development budget in the next two years.
BBC leaders fear that the government will use the cuts to help abroad to force new pressure on the global service budget later this year.
Jonathan Munro, World Director of the BBC News, told Financial Times that “as press freedom reduces considerably, the disinformation prosperous and that the media supported by the State have aggressively, aggressively, [the World Service’s] The role is increasingly important ”.
He added: “We need a long -term sustainable financing solution that allows global service to meet these global challenges and invest in services for the future.”
In the fall budget, the ministry obtained a 30% increase in state financing for the global service in 2025-2010, bringing the government’s subsidy to 137 million pounds sterling.
Davie told MPS last week that the money “exhausted in April 2026” and is “just to keep the show on the road, even less [make] Appropriate investment ”.
He said that he “did not know” the implications of the government’s decision to change foreign aid, but added: “I would say that it is probably not positive.”
Sarah Champion, president of the Labor of the International Development Committee, said: “World Service is the jewel of the British crown, trusted the whole world. . . When the services were cut, Russia and China filled the space with very different objectives. »»
Some in the BBC have launched the idea that the government is again fully funding the world service. The president of the BBC, Samir Shah, told the members of the Committee that if the government “resumed payment of the global service, that would save us some 100 million pounds sterling per year. [But] It is not in my gift.
Last week, Foreign Affairs Secretary David Lammy told the FT that almost all elements of the aid budget were considered to be “line by line” for potential reductions, as part of the Whitehall cross -expenditure that will report in June.
People in FCDO are offices for wider cuts in their department in the expenditure examination, beyond the reduction of the aid budget. Another possibility of a reduction in diplomatic workforce is another possibility that has stimulated the alarm among the ex-mandarines.
Lammy was previously a faithful defender of the BBC, calling it one of the key institutions that make up the soft power abroad in the United Kingdom, whom he in turn described as one of the “greatest forces” of Great Britain last year.
He criticized the conservatives for having undermined the diffuser in a test exposing his approach to foreign policy before the general elections last summer.
FCDO officials have stressed that the BBC financing model should be examined in the next charter review of the company.
However, they stressed that government support for global service was demonstrated in the budget last October.
The officials indicate that they are alive to the arguments put forward by the initiates of the BBC that the global service has a crucial duty to counter disinformation abroad.
The FCDO said: “The government strongly appreciates the BBC World Service, which reaches a global audience of 320 mins, and remains the most reliable international information service in the world.”
